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| WEEKLY NEWS ARCHIVES - SEPT 17TH - SEPT. 23RD | PREVIOUS WEEK |
Bills Burned Badly By Colts Firepower
Colts Blow Out Bills: The Bills defense were over powered by the potent Colts offense as Indianapolis blew out the Bills 42-26. They never had to punt in a game that they dominated after an opening interception return for a score by Nate Clements that gave the Bills a 7-0 lead. Rob Johnson continued to struggle as he played with a hip injury most of the game. He threw for 257 yards and added 63 yards rushing mostly in garbage time. The defense was burned for big play after big play as Peyton Manning threw for 421 yards and Edgerrin James added 111 yards on the ground. Complete Review.
Injury Update: The Bills suffered a rash of injuries but it appears the worst injury is to Brandon Spoon. He was playing well in his NFL debut before dislocating his left elbow which will cost him at least three weeks. Eric Moulds sprained his AC joint in his shoulder and his status is uncertain for next week. Jonas Jennings and Rob Johnson suffered hip injuries. Johnson played through it and Jennings was forced out of the game. Injury Page.
Defense Grades Out Awful: After getting two turnovers on the first two series the defense fell apart allowing six straight touchdown drives, two of them were just two plays each! The offense wasn't much better as the new West Coast Offense is still somewhere over the midwest. If you dare look we grade out the game position by position. Gameday Grades.
Bills Set For Colts: It will be an emotional pregame ceremony before the game as the teams are expected to honor the victims of the tragedy of September 11th. Then it will be getting back to football even though it will be difficult for some of us, including myself, I will be watching along with all Bills fans hoping the Bills could pull off a huge upset. The Bills are the only double digit underdog on the schedule this week, they will need to try to contain the Colts offense as much as possible and the Bills offense will need to finally click on all cylinders for a chance at pulling off the improbable upset.
Saturday September 22, 2001
2002 Cap Figure Looks Good: CBS Sportsline did a look ahead at the 2002 salary cap and they rank the Bills as the 8th best team in terms of salary cap situation for next year. They are an estimated $11.3 Million under what they think next year's cap would be. This figure only takes into account players that are already under contract for next season. So it appears that while the club is in a rebuilding mode this year there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Spoon To Start? Brandon Spoon will be making his NFL debut tomorrow against the Colts and is expected to see a lot of playing time because of the injury to Sam Cowart. Now it appears he may even start the game over Kenyatta Wright. He worked with the first team in practice yesterday but no decision has been made on who will get the nod. Both players will receive a lot of playing time.
Cowart's Season Done? The Bills haven't made a decision yet on whether or not to place Sam Cowart on season ending injured reserve. Cowart however feels his season is done. In an interview with the Buffalo News he said he needs three months to heal and another month to get ready that takes him into mid January. Expect the Bills to place him on IR next week.
Newman Key: With Cowart out, Keith Newman is expected to move into the middle as the lone linebacker in the dime defense. Newman has the same intensity that Cowart has, he will be a key figure in trying to shutdown Edgerrin James. Updated Preview.
Two Added To Report: As expected Pat Williams was added to the injury report with inflammation in his ankle. He is listed as questionable but should play. Chris Watson was also added as probable with a broken pinky finger. He also should play. Injury Report.
Friday September 21, 2001
Pat Williams Misses Practice: Pat Williams missed yesterday's practice with inflammation in his ankle. He may be added to the injury report but is expected to play on Sunday.
Farris Gets Reps: The Bills continue to challenge John Fina to raise his play as Kris Farris got some reps with the first team at left tackle during practice this week. Fina is still expected to start.
Thursday September 20, 2001
Bills Healthy: The Bills only list four players on the official injury report, two of them are the players that are most likely out for the season. The other two should be available to play. The Colts have more players listed as they have 8 players on the official report. Injury Report.
Wilson Buys Tickets: Ralph Wilson showed once again why he is one of the classiest owners in sports by purchasing the remaining tickets to the Steelers game next week and handing them out to area firefighters, police officers, and emergency technicians. He announced the gesture at a press conference today. The value of the tickets is $130,000.
Wednesday September 19, 2001
Johnson Comments: It was the normal Wednesday press conference day as Rob Johnson addressed the media. He stated the obvious that the club needs to score more points this week. He feels the pre-game stuff will be pretty emotional but he expects everything to get back to normal for the kickoff. The extra practice time has been a definite help for the entire team according to Johnson.
Williams Presser: Coach Williams said the club is ready to roll and get back to the business of playing football because that is their job and the President asked everyone to get back to work. The coach said the defense needs to do a good job in not letting Peyton Manning control the game at the line of scrimmage. He said the club has worked extensively on defending the no-huddle attack of the Colts. In order to have a chance to win the Coach said the Bills need to play a complete 60 minutes of football in all three phases of the game.
Auto Show Says No: The NFL is in the process of trying to save the integrity of the 12 team playoffs while keeping the 16 game regular season. They approached the Auto show that has the Superdome booked for the week after the Super Bowl and asked them to change dates with them so the league could push back the entire playoffs a week. The Auto show so far has said no. That means the only choices left is to move the Super Bowl or relent and have 8 teams in the playoffs this year.
Tickets Remain For Steelers Game: The Bills have announced that tickets remain for the next home game against the Steelers on September 30th. It was originally thought this game was a total sellout but the club released some tickets yesterday. It appears the team was holding back tickets for potential new season ticket holders that never developed. You can get your tickets at the Bills website, by phone, or by visiting one of the club ticket offices.
Tuesday September 18, 2001
Cowart Decision Near: Tom Donahoe held a media luncheon today and many interesting tidbits came out of that meeting. The team president said that a decision on the status of Sam Cowart is imminent. We should know by tomorrow if he will be placed on injured reserve. That would end his season. The team is talking to the doctor today to see how long the rehab will be.
Christie To Be Released: Donahoe also said today that Steve Christie denied an injury settlement and will be released when he is healthy enough. At that point he will be free to sign with any other team other than the Bills.
Fina Struggling: Donahoe also admitted today that he is not happy with the performance of John Fina but he isn't ready to replace his starting left tackle. Fina acknowledges that he has struggled and he needs to step up his play.
Teams To Play 16 Games: As expected the NFL announced today that each NFL team will play 16 games with the week 2 games that were postponed being played the weekend of January 5th - 7th. The exact dates and times are still to be announced meaning the Bills game against the Dolphins can be either Saturday or Sunday. What was not expected is that the league has not decided to cancel the wildcard games at this point. The commissioner said that if a satisfactory solution can not be made than they will shorten the playoffs to 8 teams this year only. It appears they are looking at the possibility of moving the Super Bowl a week to keep the integrity of the playoffs. No word on when that decision will be made.
Refs Back: In other league news, the league will return with the regular officials as a new contract was agreed upon with the league. The deal still needs to be ratified by the officials but that is expected. The deal gives them a 50 percent pay hike this year and a 100 percent pay hike by year four of the deal.
Bills Face Tough Task: As we try to concentrate on football again, Bills fans outlook for this week's game may not help lift their spirits from the tragedy of Sept. 11th. The Colts high powered offense will be very difficult to slow down for the Bills young, inexperienced defense missing its best weapon. The offense should be able to put up more points but not nearly enough to beat the offensive machine of the Colts. Complete Preview.
NFL Decision Today: The NFL is suppose to announce its decision on the schedule today. It is expected that the league will makeup the games missed last weekend on Wildcard weekend January 5th and 6th. That would then reduce the playoff field from 12 teams to 8 with only one wildcard from each conference.
Monday September 17, 2001
Williams Press Conference: Gregg Williams met with the media today and he said a decision on what to do with Sam Cowart is expected this week, chances are he will be placed on injured reserve. Bryce Fisher did not practice today because of the screw that was placed in his thumb. The surgery went well and he will get fitted with a cast tomorrow and be back practicing on Wednesday. He said they will try to get back to the normal routine as much as possible this week as the players will have their normal off day tomorrow and will have their normal practice schedule the rest of the week before flying to Indianapolis on Saturday.
Bills Back To Work: The Bills are back practicing today preparing for what will be a very tough matchup against Indianapolis this Sunday after taking a rare weekend off to reflect on the horrors of the tradegy from Tuesday. The fact that football will return will hopefully help people deal with getting back to as normal a routine as possible. For some of us that will be impossible but at the very least it will give us a much needed distraction to the horrors of September 11th.
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